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Quote: Full marks on the Dinki Di, Rule303! The earliest design of expanding military .303 bullets was proposed at the Dum-Dum arsenal by an officer in the British Indian Army (not to be confused with the army of the current India). However, expanding bullets were already in widespread use in hunting rounds before that time. The actual Dum-Dum bullet was simply the standard Mk.II FMJ with the jacket removed at the tip, creating a soft-point. (Sound familiar?) It was rejected by the British because the Mk.II was open to the core at the base and they were concerned that (wait for it...) the core would blow out leaving the jacket in the bore. I think I'm getting an idea where that story started... The expanding round eventually adopted by the British Army was a hollow-point. By that time, all expanding bullets were called "dum-dum" in the popular mind, the same way we over here refer to all tissues as Kleenex, regardless of who makes them, and the British "hoover" their floors with Dysons. The new bullet had a very short life, its' only major engagement being the Battle of Omdurman, where its' performance was considered "impressive". A protest was immediately launched by ze Germans, on the grounds that the wounds were too gruesome in nature. The following year, expanding bullets were outlawed by the Hague Convention. Since then, some soldiers were known to have modified their own ammo by removing the tip, at the risk of harsh treatment should they be captured with them in their possession. Similar circumstances occurred in the First World War, when some men pulled their FMJ's and reversed them, seating them point-down in the case. This produced a very effective armour-piercing round, surprisingly, but was still considered a violation. |